The present invention relates to an animal feeding/watering bowl and to a self attaching mounting apparatus for securing the bowl to the wires of an enclosure housing an animal or bird.
Feeding bowls are standard equipment for bird cages and other animal enclosures and are constructed of numerous materials and in a wide variety of configurations. In recent years, plastic has become very popular as the material of choice for feeding bowls bird cages and other animal cages because it is an easily moldable material that can be designed to provide a rugged construction with tailored surfaces for enabling the animals to comfortably perch on the rim or elsewhere.
A problem with conventional feeding bowls is the issue of satisfactorily attaching the bowl to the interior of the enclosure, e.g., a cage. Currently, feeding bowls utilize a number of different designs and mechanisms for attaching bowls to the side of a cage. Such mechanisms are usually designed so as to engage two or more of the vertical wires of the cage. These attachments comprise a number of individual components for attaching the bowl to the cage. These multiple components add to the inconvenience and clumsiness of the mounting and securing the bowl in position as well as to the dismounting of the bowl for cleaning and filling with food. Thus, while plastic bowls are extremely popular for use as animal feeding receptacles, they have significant draw-backs in their utilization.
Another problem with bowls that attach to a cage is spillover of the food from the bowl to the surrounding floor during feeding. Consequently, cleaning of the surrounding floor is required.
It is common to use of multiple bowls or a bowls with multiple compartments for feeding animals or birds. For example, one bowl (or compartment) may be used for food while the other may be used for water. If separate bowls are used, these bowls are typically placed next to each other. During feeding, the food or water from one bowl is often spilled into the food or water in the other bowl. As result, the contents of each bowl or bowl section are contaminated.
It is highly desirable to provide an animal feeding bowl that can be easily mounted and dismounted from a cage using a minimum number of parts. The animal feeding bowl in the present invention satisfies these requirements.
It is also highly desirable to provide an accessory for preventing the spill over of food from the bowl to the surrounding floor. The present invention includes such an accessory.
Moreover, it is highly desirable to provide a bowl system consisting of at least two bowl compartments that would prevent the spill over of food from one bowl compartment to the other during feeding. The present invention also provides such a bowl system.